Our Mutual Read: Return to Cranford

So, although I have a bunch of Victorian books at home, I haven't yet started my reading. Instead, I'm going to cheat & talk about my impressions of last night's Return to Cranford on PBS. It's based on Elizabeth Gaskell's book--which we don't have at the library, but you can read online using Google Books or download a free E-book from Girlebooks (Girlebooks also features an interesting review of the book)--so at least I'm beginning to immerse myself in the right period.

I really enjoyed the 2007 production of Cranford. It was just delightful to watch this story play out, & a cast including Judi Dench, Julia McKenzie, Imelda Staunton, Eileen Atkins & Francesca Annis is nothing to sneeze at--& that was just the female talent! However, last night's Return to Cranford felt a little flat to me. I found myself wondering if this sequel was actually based on the book, or if the writers were trying to recapture the magic by extrapolating from existing plotlines--not very successfully, in my opinion. It was great to watch the pantheon of British stars working their magic on the screen, but I just didn't feel the connection with story. Also, hopefully not giving too much away, the ride on the train scene was really cute, but I couldn't imagine Elizabeth Gaskell (or any Victorian writer) writing it. I'll be checking out Part 2 next week, but not with quite the same level of excitement.

I've got Cranford on my list of reads now, but if anyone out there has already read the book, can you tell me if Return to Cranford is part of Gaskell's original stories? Also, if you watched the show last night, what did you think of it?

Our Mutual Read

You may have noticed the picture (& link, if you click on it) for Our Mutual Read in the sidebar on the right. I am taking a reading challenge this year & reading Victorian literature! I haven't decided which level I'll be doing:

-Level 1: 4 books, at least 2 written during 1837 - 1901. The other books may be Neo-Victorian or non-fiction.

-Level 2: 8 books, at least 4 written during 1837 - 1901. The other books may be Neo-Victorian or non-fiction.

-Level 3: 12 books, at least 6 written during 1837 - 1901. The other books may be Neo-Victorian or non-fiction.

However, at this point I think I've amassed enough potential titles to do level 3 twice. Here are some of the titles I'm considering (I'm hoping plays are acceptable):

Fiction

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Warden by Anthony Trollope (first book of The Chronicles of Barsetshire)

Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler

Father Brown Mystery Stories by G.K. Chesterton

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Pinkerton's Sister by Peter Rushforth

The Observations by Jane Harris

Affinity by Sarah Waters

Jack Maggs by Peter Carey

The Blood Doctor by Barbara Vine

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray


Plays

The Second Mrs Tanqueray by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero

Lady Audley's Secret by C. H. Hazlewood (adapted from the book by Mary Elizabeth Braddon)

(Oddly enough, my interest in both these plays was piqued by frequent mention in Agatha Christie novels.)

Non-Fiction

The Clumsiest People in Europe, or, Mrs. Mortimer's Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World by Todd Pruzan and Favell Lee Mortimer

Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick

The Disastrous Mrs. Weldon: The Life, Loves, and Lawsuits of a Legendary Victorian by Brian Thompson

Lectures on Art by John Ruskin

Victorian London: The Life of a City, 1840-1870 by Liza Picard

Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England by Judith Flanders

Victorian Fairy Tales: The Revolt of the Fairies and Elves edited by Jack Zipes

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale

London 1849: A Victorian Murder Story by Michael Alpert

I'm also interested in in the 2 mini-challenges:

-Period Film Mini-Challenge -- watch at least 6 films that take place between 1837 - 1901 (they don't necessarily have to be based on a book) and post a review. (With my love of Merchant-Ivory productions & the new movie Young Victoria out, this is a natural for me.)

-Short Story Mini-Challenge -- read 12 short stories written or taking place between 1837 - 1901 and post a review. (I find the library system has The Oxford Book of Victorian Detective Stories, The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories, & Victorian Love Stories: An Oxford Anthology.)

Well, I'd better start reading! I notice my reading will be skewed towards mysteries--I 'm hoping reading a genre I normally read will encourage me to complete this reading challenge (unlike last year's). I'll be posting off & on on my progress & on some of the books I've read. Stay tuned!

10 in '10 New Mexico Reading Challenge!

After reading about those other reading challenges, we got inspired to create one of our own! Our challenge to our readers is to read 10 books in 2010 either about New Mexico, set in New Mexico, or by a New Mexico author. You could read fiction (any genre) or non-fiction. Looking for titles? We have a New Mexico authors display at the front of the library! You can also check the shelves for books marked with a round yellow zia sticker on the spine. Or, consider the following lists of the New Mexico Book Award winners:

Winners, 2009 New Mexico Book Awards

Winners, 2008 New Mexico Book Awards

Winners & Finalists, 2007 New Mexico Book Awards

If you are interested in taking part in our 10 in '10 New Mexico Reading challenge, please let us know by leaving us a comment on this post! If you already know the ten titles you'll be reading (or some of them), let us know what you've chosen.

New Year's Reading Challenges

So you like to read...maybe you're looking for new titles...have you ever considered a reading challenge? There are many blogs and websites out there that sponsor reading challenges--read a certain number of books in a set amount of time. The challenge could be reading 3 science books in 6 months; reading only Canadian authors; reading 12 books in a year. Here are some of our favorites:

Science Book Challenge: Read a book for science literacy!

Audiobook Reading Challenge: Are you curious (3 books), fascinated (6), or addicted (12)?

A Tournament of Reading: Read medieval history, medieval literature, or historical fiction.

Our Mutual Read: A Victorian reading challenge.

An Adventure in Reading (blog): Sidebar links to numerous 2010 Challenges, including (so far) Orange January, Aussie Author Challenge, Complete Booker Challenge.

A Novel Challenge (blog): The place to find your next challenge!

Novel Ideas: Authors Encourage Fans to Donate to Charity

Authors Patrick Rothfuss (fantasy, The Name of the Wind) and Laurie King (mystery, The Language of Bees) are both big fans of the charity Heifer International, according to Heifer's magazine World Ark. Both authors have set up teams on the Heifer website to encourage their fans to donate to the nonprofit charitable organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Heifer International is dedicated to relieving global hunger and poverty by providing gifts of livestock and plants, as well as education in sustainable agriculture, to financially-disadvantaged families around the world.

Laurie King's "Fifteen Weeks of Bees" is over, but her Team LRK website is still up and accepting donations. "Fifteen Weeks of Bees" was a promotion for her new book combined with a an anniversary celebration of her first book and a fundraiser for Heifer.

Patrick Rothfuss' Worldbuilders donation page is accepting donations until January 15, 2010. Worldbuilders will match 50% of all donations made on his page until then. Also, whenever you donate $10 or more, you'll be entered in a lottery to win prizes--books, signed books, cool music. For more information about Patrick Rothfuss and Worldbuilders, check out the author's website.

Are you waiting for your copy of the new Sue Grafton?

The library's copies of Sue Grafton's latest Kinsey Millhone mystery, U is for Undertow, have arrived...and there's quite a hold list on copies of the book, the large print book, & the audiobook, so if you haven't put a hold on it yet, now's the time! While you're waiting you could relive Kinsey's past adventures by rereading the first 20 books, from A is for Alibi to T is for Trespass. But if you are looking to wile away your wait with a book not written by Sue Grafton but similar to her mysteries, may we suggest the following titles/series?

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller

the Anna Pigeon mysteries by Nevada Barr, beginning with Track of the Cat

the Anna Lee mysteries by Liza Cody, beginning with Dupe

the V.I. Warshawski mysteries by Sara Paretsky, beginning with Indemnity Only

For more readalikes, check out this list by Bettendorf Public Library.

For the Love of the Crossword Puzzle

As a fervent lover of crossword puzzles, Scrabble and any kind of word game, I had no idea how the crossword puzzle started until I checked the internet to see what happened on this day in history. The first crossword puzzle was actually called a "Word-Cross" and was invented by an English editor and puzzle constructor named Arthur Wynne. Mr. Wynne moved to the United States and settled in Cedar Grove, New Jersey and went to work for the New York World.
He was asked to invent a new game for the paper and based on a game he played as a child called "Magic Squares" he came up with the "Word-Cross". The first crossword puzzles were diamond-shaped with no black squares! Eventually they were called a Cross-Word puzzle and then became known as crossword which we all know and love today. There are even different variants of the crossword puzzle in other countries. Britain uses a lattice-like structure with more shaded squares, the Japanese style grid has two additional rules which the shaded cells may not share a side and the corner squares must be white and the Swedish grid would be a high challenge for a lot of American users as they don't use grid numbers. The clues are put into the actual puzzle itself and arrows are used to indicate which direction to put the answer.

There are a couple of mystery writers who have even tied the crossword puzzle into their novels. There is a Clue for the Puzzle Lady and Dead Man's Puzzle by Parnell Hall. Nero Blanc has several titles such as Death on the Diagonal, Anatomy of a Crossword and Wrapped up in Crosswords. If you are new to crossword puzzles or cannot remember that three-letter word for a Yale student, (it's "eli"), you could try a crossword puzzle dictionary. The two best ones in the library are The Crossword Puzzle Dictionary by Andrew Swanfeldt or The New York Times Crossworld Puzzle Dictionary by Tom Pulliam and Clare Grundman. The New York Times Dictionary is an older edition, but sufficient for someone starting out solving crosswords. There is a great documentary in the catalog called WordPlay which showcases New York Times puzzle enthusiasts and participants in the 28th Annual American Crossword Tournament.

Now, if you are so inclined to make your own crossword puzzle you could check out The Complete Cruciverbalist: How to Solve and Compose Crossword Puzzles for Fun and Profit by Stan Kurzban and Mel Rosen or read about one man's journey with crossword puzzles called
Crossworld: One Man's Journey into America's Crossword Obsession by Marc Romano.

If you also like the crossword game "Scrabble" there is a great digital video in our collection called Word Wars: Tiles and Tribulations on the Scrabble Game Circuit or you could read Stefan Fatsis' book Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obssession in the World of Competitive Scrabble. We also have the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary or the Everything Scrabble if you are so inclined to look up and possibly memorize certain words to be ready for your next Scrabble game, but we all know you don't really need to do that, because after all you are a whiz at getting those triple letter and triple word scores, right?